The Big Spaceship lands

If you’ve been following Second Life, you’ll know usability issues have been key. As we’ve repeatedly rehashed here, 2008 was cited by Linden Lab as the year for improving the Second Life experience. There’s quite rightly been criticism of the number of issues outstanding with the user experience.

The tide may be turning on that front, with Linden Lab announcing the engagement of ‘interactive design agency’ Big Spaceship to improve Second Life’s ‘first hour’ experience.

Big Spaceship do have some form in the sphere, having played a pivotal role with the 30 Days of Night immersive game. There’s no firm timeframes for when we’ll see the improvements. Like any user interface changes, the challenge will be the get a balance between simplicity for new users and the more complex needs of longer term Second Life residents. Hopefully they’ve already had a browse of some great innovations already created by Second Life residents.

If you’ve got your own suggestions – add them on the Second Life forum thread devoted to the topic.